Easy access to porn reason for rise in crime against women: Lawyer

The police may be trying to gloss over the exponential rise in the number of offences against women by attributing it to increased awareness, but experts say it’s much more than awareness and the police need to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and take prompt measures to curb such crimes.

One reason that more and more women are getting targeted could be unhindered access to pornography, say lawyers.

“More and more youngsters are involved in rapes and molestations as they tend to try out what they see in pornographic films,” said lawyer Abha Singh. “Conviction rates should improve as that would act as a deterrent.”

Lawyer Majid Memon said: “It’s a matter of serious concern for the government, judiciary and society.”

The number of cases of molestations and outraging modesty registered between January and April 28 this year was 647 as against 230 cases in the same period in 2012. “Citizens, NGOs and women activists should come together to counter this grave situation. Fear of and faith in law needs to be enhanced with better policing,” Memon said.

“Teams are in place at police station-levels to prevent such incidents and vulnerable spots are patrolled regularly,” said Sharda Raut, in-charge of the recently formed Women’s Offences Wing.

“We have instructed policemen to register all cases pertaining to women. Also, we are spreading awareness among women and asking them to register cases, which is showing in the rise in crimes against women,” said Satyanarayan Chaudhari, deputy commissioner of police (detection).